This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Donald Trump wins Nevada for third consecutive victory

Donald Trump has won his third straight overwhelming victory in the Republican presidential primary, this one a landslide in Nevada on Tuesday.

What happened in Vegas was alarming to the Republican establishment. Trump’s supposed competitors, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, again failed to mount a real challenge; early results suggested Nevada would give Trump his widest win yet. The bombastic billionaire now rolls into the critical 12-state "Super Tuesday" bonanza on March 1 in a position of uncontested dominance.

“It’s going to be an amazing two months. We might not even need the two months, folks, to be honest,” he said in a jubilant victory speech in which he promised to greedily “grab and grab and grab” for America like he has long grabbed for himself.

Nevada’s caucus appeared to draw record turnout, another demonstration of Republican energy — and of energy for Trump in particular. Entrance polls foretold the Trump landslide. Sixty-one per cent of caucus-goers said they wanted the president to be a political outsider, with just 33 per cent favouring someone with political experience.

Trump trounced Cruz, who is running as a defender of Christianity, among evangelicals. He trounced Rubio, the establishment favourite, among moderates. He has now won in the northeast (New Hampshire), south (South Carolina), and west. To many Republican observers, he now appears inevitable.

“The Nominee,” blared the lead headline on the The Drudge Report.

Early results showed Trump with about 42 per cent of the vote, Rubio about 25 per cent, Cruz about 22 per cent. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson had about 7 per cent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich about 4 per cent.

The Nevada defeat was particularly stinging for Rubio, who lived in Las Vegas for six years as a child. He had invested heavily in the state where he still has numerous relatives, treating it as a "firewall" against a streak of early losses. The wall crumbled. The Florida senator is heading into Super Tuesday without a single victory in the first four contests.

ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW

But Trump’s thrashing also damages Cruz. Caucuses, which require more voter effort than regular elections, are supposed to reward candidates with strong turnout operations such as his. Instead, he lost again to a candidate with a bare-bones ground game. And Trump’s advantage will likely become even more pronounced as the pace of the campaign accelerates and media coverage becomes more critical than foot soldiers.

Cruz, a right-wing Texas senator, has always seen the southern primaries of Super Tuesday as his most important contests. He is going into the big day in worse shape than ever — bleeding his Christian base, struggling to combat a torrent of “liar, liar” attacks from Trump and Rubio, and facing open skepticism from his own supporters.

The caucus proceedings were marred by chaos at polling places and lax ethics rules. A journalist for Mashable reported that ballots were being handed out without identification checks. Two caucus-goers posted photos on Twitter of what appeared to be poll workers wearing Trump attire. Some ballots were sponsored by a congressional candidate. One polling place ran out of ballots after giving some individuals multiple ballots.

"I don't know of any organization less prepared to deal with unusually high turnout than NV GOP. Also, no organization less equipped to deal with low turnout," top Nevada journalist Jon Ralston wrote on Twitter.

Trump, whose name graces a Las Vegas hotel-casino, was so dominant in Nevada that he mused half-jokingly about not campaigning there at all in the final days of the race. He did, though. His arena rally in Las Vegas on the eve of the caucus attracted some 8,000 people. He offered them his usual fare: mockery of opponents and elites, praise of torture, promises to build a giant wall on the Mexican border and to restore America’s glorious past, casually violent rhetoric.

At one point, he mused wistfully of "the old days" when he said he would have been allowed to assault a protester he claimed was "totally disruptive, throwing punches."

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com